Tim Friede has been bitten by snakes more than 200 times and received 700 injections of venom. Now his blood could save hundreds of thousands of people. It’s an imperfect gospel metaphor to be sure, but it’s not bad.  

The Seed and the Serpent

From its opening pages to the closing ones, Scripture uses the language of the serpent to depict evil and Satan. In Genesis 3, a cunning serpent tempts Adam and Eve to sin against God and eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Consequently all hell breaks loose, and the humans are expelled from the Garden. But before they leave, the Lord issues a curse upon the serpent, saying,

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3.15)

This sets up a major plotline of Scripture – the battle between the respective seeds of the woman and the serpent. God declares his plan for an offspring of the woman to crush the serpent’s head, though in the process himself being wounded by the serpent. Note, although the conflict down the ages is between their offspring, in the end the seed of the woman will not crush the head of a serpent’s offspring, but the original serpent himself. He will crush your head.

Skipping to the final book, Revelation speaks of Christ’s defeat over ‘the ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan’ (Revelation 12.9; 20.2). Scholars debate quite how the understanding of Satan evolved through the Hebrew Bible and into the New Testament, but it seems that these are deliberate bookends, framing the whole story of history.

Christ is the offspring who, though injured in the battle, has crushed the head of the serpent.

The Snake on a Stake

The gospel of John makes a link between the cross of Christ and the defeat of the serpent, by alluding to a story from Numbers 21.

‘“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3.14–16)

In the wilderness, the Hebrew people complained against God, who then sent poisonous serpents among them. But the Lord also provided a cure, instructing Moses to make a bronze representation of a snake, holding it high up on a pole. When people looked to that serpent in faith, they would live.

In the same way, Jesus says, the Son of Man will be lifted up, to take the curse of the serpent and give eternal life to all who look to him in faith. Thus is the promise of Genesis 3.15 fulfilled, by Christ on the cross.

Miscellaneous Serpents

There are many other moments in Scripture we could look at, such as the conflict between Pharoah, whose royal symbol was that of a snake, and God’s messengers Moses and Aaron, whose staffs became snakes that devoured those of the Egyptian magicians (Exodus 4; 7). Or David and Goliath, where the giant in his bronze-scaled armour represents that ancient serpent, standing against the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel 17).

We could look at how the imagery of the serpent is linked to that of the sea monster or dragon in the writings of Job, Isaiah, or Amos. Or how wicked kings were likened to serpents (e.g. Jeremiah 51.34). We could reflect on the tragic irony of the bronze serpent of Numbers 21 becoming an object of idolatrous worship in 2 Kings 18. Or consider how Jesus and the gospel writers use snake language to refer to evil, and how both the (disputed) ending of Mark and the story of Paul in Malta speak of Christ’s followers being protected from the venom of serpents (Mark 16; Acts 28).

But it seems clear that one great strand of the gospel story is the conflict between Christ and the serpent; a conflict that is won by his blood shed at the cross.

Tim Friede: The Universal Antivenom

The BBC published an article last week about Tim Friede, an American man who for 18 years deliberately injected himself with the venom of the world’s deadliest snakes. Originally wanting to build up his own immunity, he then became motivated to develop therapies for the 140,000 people who die each year through snake bites, and the many more who face amputation or severe disability.   

Across nearly 2 decades he endured over 200 snake bites and has injected himself with more than 700 doses of venom from mambas, cobras, and other deadly serpents. Now scientists believe his blood may hold the secret to creating an antivenom capable of protecting people against the deadliest of venoms.

The article explains how ‘venom and antivenom have to be closely matched because the toxins in a venomous bite vary from one species to another’ and typically antivenom made from snakes in one region will be ineffective against snakes from another. But because of the wide range of snakes whose venom Friede had endured, his blood had developed ‘broadly neutralising antibodies’ meaning that it could provide the basis for creating a universal antivenom.

Tim Friede explained his motivation:

“It just became a lifestyle and I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing as hard as I could push – for the people who are 8,000 miles away from me who die from snakebite.”

No wonder scientists were keen to reach out to Friede. One can only imagine how peculiar that initial phone call was, when they asked:

‘This might be awkward, but I’d love to get my hands on some of your blood.’

A Gospel Metaphor

Now, injecting yourself with snake venom may not be the wisest or most normal of pastimes (and certainly not a hobby I’m likely to take up any time soon). And it’s not a perfect gospel parallel by any means – for one thing Friede has only microdosed and hasn’t experienced and defeated death.

But… A man who willingly makes it his life mission to take upon himself the curse of the serpent, being injured by his poisonous bite to bring life to others. A man whose blood holds the key to the healing of people across all nations. Not a localised solution for a few instances, but a universal antivenom to defeat the serpent’s poison in all its forms.      

Tell me if that doesn’t remind you of someone.

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Photo by David Clode on Unsplash